Justice League: Cry for Justice #3Review

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More characters stand around and demand justice.

By Dan Phillips

I know I've been saying this a lot in recent reviews, but I have a tough time believing the writer behind Justice League: Cry for Justice is the same person responsible for brilliant works like Starman and The Golden Age. Cry for Justice reads like the work of a rank amateur, and is a far cry (pardon the pun) from the subtle, poignant and moving stories that brought the likes of the Justice Society and Jack Knight to prominence. The difference is baffling.

If you took the more annoying quirks of Mark Millar and Brian Michael Bendis and threw them together with a random cast and an almost non-existent plot, you'd more or less get a comic that reads like Cry for Justice. Characters do little more than stand around and talk, throwing around terms like "good guy," "bad guy," and "team-up." Oh, and "justice." These characters really like to use the word justice; even when what they're actually referring to is a lot closer to vengeance.

What's more baffling than Robinson's misguided ear for dialogue (really, read this comic aloud to yourself and tell me it sounds natural) is his pacing. The comic feels like Robinson is fast-forwarding over the few interesting parts of this story and hitting play during the boring moments. How else would you describe his choice to build up the team's search for Prometheus and then handle the confrontation mostly off panel? Did he think scenes of the heroes standing around and gabbing were more interesting? They're not.

The art, though certainly easy on the eyes, is another of the book's major problems. In addition to making some seriously questionable framing choices (like the opening shot of Supergirl's chest), Mauro Cascioli also struggles to lay out a page in a coherent manner. Reading the book's opening double-page spread was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle. Cascioli's paint art also continues to feel increasingly static. Even an action scene like the one starring Congorilla and Mikhail feels more like a movie poster than a depiction of moving characters.

Judging from the issue's back-up text piece, Robinson has a strong passion for Prometheus, and really wants to bring him back to A-list status. Sadly, his efforts might be doing more harm than good. Prometheus' mere presence in this mess of a comic almost undoes all the damage control Sterling Gates did in the recent Faces of Evil one-shot. It's that bad.